NPD + IRI = Circana
My colleague Randy Giusto and I often go round and round about branding and rebranding in this industry. I’ve written past posts about dos and don’ts and have seen more than one name come out confusing or plain old “blah.” Some insight riot in the form of confusion or way too many have come out sounding like a bad pharma drug. To this day, one leader won’t speak to me because I thought their name was more about putting spin on a stuck brand showing repositioning without being repositioned. That did not win any brotherly love.
So how fun it was to see this week’s news about Circana. Full disclosure: I was on NPD’s private advisory board for three or so years leading up to its exit. It was not a fiduciary role, nor was I involved in the post-branding decisions once IRI came into the picture. It’s been an exciting time for these two organizations, and wow — to have a brand that actually resonates.
Circana. This is a wonderful outcome. The name is powerful, simple, memorable, pronounceable, and emblematic. How about that? It doesn’t sound like an antacid. It actually says what it is in a clever yet meaningful way. And the logo matches the name. Even better!
Compare Circana to this email exchange last week:
Randy: Check this out: https://www.mrweb.com/drno/news34686.htm. It’s like Spago, the restaurant, but without the P. Will people pronounce it Saah-go or Sag-Oh? I wonder if their research data “sags” in spots?Silly name.
Anthea: I think it’s a long a, which is why they signify the long mark over it. That anyone has to do that to make sure it’s pronounced right is indeed silly. Say-go looks to be what they intend. Sigh.
I think to myself: SayGo isn’t such a bad name, but to spell it the way they did, with a vowel symbol over the a, is not a smart move.
Randy back: Laughing at this last string… I looked it up on Vocabulary.com. Saygo means the following: A powdery starch from certain sago palms; a mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics (OK that’s better); a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family (research can tell a story); goat-like antelope of Central Eurasia having a stubby nose like a proboscis (oops); droop, sink, or settle. (Oh, that’s not good!)
Anthea takes note that nowhere is it actually Saying Go! Ack!
And so, we applaud Circana in this day and age. (Way to go NPD + IRI!) Does the history of branding follow the history of first names? Kind of like Michael and Kathy or John and Maria having been replaced by Caitlin and Josiah or Aiden. I recently read that boy names that have increased in popularity include Amiri, Eliam, Colter, Ozzy, Loyal, Khai, Evander, Camilo, Mac, and Jiraiya.
These are all fine names.
I just wonder if as the baby names go, so too do the corporate ones… Circana is a breath of fresh air.